Glass amphoriskos (perfume bottle)

3rd century BCE
Not on view
Translucent cobalt blue with same color handles and base-knob; single trail in opaque white.

Horizontal rim-disk with rounded edge; tall cylindrical neck with concave sides; small sloping shoulder; narrow, elongated ovoid body; large coiled base-knob applied to pointed bottom; two vertical strap handles applied to top of body, drawn up and outward, then turned in and down, and attached to top of neck and underside of rim-disk.

Trail applied on neck below rim-disk, wound horizontally once around neck and drawn spirally down to body, tooled into a zigzag pattern with close-set vertical indents around top of body, then wound spirally down body in five turns with one more turn further down, and trailed off back across body to bottom of one handle.

Body intact, but upper half of one handle missing; dulling, pitting, and faint iridescence.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Glass amphoriskos (perfume bottle)
  • Period: Hellenistic
  • Date: 3rd century BCE
  • Culture: Greek, Eastern Mediterranean or Italian
  • Medium: Glass; core-formed, Group II
  • Dimensions: H.: 3 3/16 in. (8.1 cm)
    Diam.: 1 1/8 in. (2.8 cm)
    Other: 1 3/4 in. (4.5 cm)
  • Classification: Glass
  • Credit Line: Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
  • Object Number: 17.194.581
  • Curatorial Department: Greek and Roman Art

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